I love popular science stories. Especially neuroscience stories. Especially ones with real life anecdotes.

So forgive me if I don’t post for a while because I just discovered this new awesome website, Barking Up The Wrong Tree, and now I don’t see myself doing anything but reading all 1053 pages of scientific facts.

Some favourite new facts:

It’s not finding gratitude that matters most; it’s remembering to look in the first place.

…consciously recognizing the emotions reduced their impact….Trying not to feel something doesn’t work, and in some cases even backfires…. describe an emotion in just a word or two, and it helps reduce the emotion.

We don’t just choose the things we like; we also like the things we choose.

social exclusion activates the same circuitry as physical pain

After about 75K a year, money has minimal effects on happiness

Mastering skills is stressful in the short term and happiness-boosting in the long term.

Actually.

You know what?

Learning too many facts in a short period of time makes my head explode.

Fact.